KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 1 ― Bursa Malaysia remained in negative territory at mid-morning today in tandem with a mixed performance by regional peers, and on selling pressure in selected heavyweight stocks.

At 11.05am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) was 10.80 points weaker at 1,449.58 compared to yesterday's close of 1,460.38.

The market bellwether opened lower by 2.74 points at 1,457.64.

On the broader market, decliners led gainers 371 to 253, while 355 counters were unchanged, 1,325 untraded, and 13 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 1.15 billion units valued at RM482.85 million.

ActivTrades trader Anderson Alves said Asian equities were mixed today after Wall Street slipped overnight. Weaker Chinese data and new Covid-19 lockdowns weighed further on sentiment, with traders eyeing Wednesday's US Federal Reserve (Fed) decision on interest rates, he added.

"It is worth keeping a close eye on the US dollar and US Treasury yields as markets brace for a week with risk events, including the latest US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting and the US nonfarm payroll data.

"Markets are expecting the Fed to raise its rate by 75 basis points on Wednesday and discuss whether to scale back the size of its next hike in December as rates approach their projected peak,” he said.

Heavyweights Maybank and CIMB both lost 4.0 sen to RM8.55 and RM5.48 respectively, while Petronas Chemicals fell 6.0 sen to RM8.66.

IHH Healthcare rose 3.0 sen to RM5.98 and Hong Leong Bank added 2.0 sen to RM20.80.

Among the actives, both Borneo Oil and Serba Dinamik were flat at 2.0 sen each, while KNM slipped 2.5 sen to 6.0 sen. Top Glove shed half-a-sen to 79 sen and Tanco gained 2.0 sen to 39.5 sen.

On the index board, the FBM Emas Index slipped 62.92 points to 10,287.92, the FBM 70 weakened 44.25 points to 12,222.48, and the FBMT 100 Index lost 65.72 points to 10,024.21.

The FBM Emas Shariah Index lost 62.02 points to 10,349.09 and the FBM ACE declined by 2.26 points to 4,856.67.

Sector-wise, the Energy Index was 2.55 points easier at 695.95, the Financial Services Index dipped 111.37 points to 16,355.31 and the Industrial Products and Services Index edged down 1.09 points to 174.71. The Plantation Index went down 72.65 points to 6,807.27. ― Bernama